Ode to the Halloween Costume

Here it is... the annual Halloween blog.  The weather did not want to cooperate, but Halloween was on.  With parties at school and neighborhood parties, the actual trick-or-treat fest was the grand finale.  Zach was Duke from G.I. Joe and Olivia was a beautiful cheetah.  Who knew cheetahs had feathers?  This cheetah left a trail of feathers where ever she went.  Thanks for all the candy, kids, Daddy and I are happy that you share :-)

Ghosting & Carving

We hit the pumpkin patches early October this year.  Olivia and Zach begged us every day since we brought our pumpkin home to carve it.  We put them off for a while until Dave returned home from a trip.  Two weeks out from Halloween, we carved it, well, maybe only Dave carved it, but with all the begging and pleading from those little munchkins, they lost interest within 2 minutes.  Figures.....  As you can see, Dave was dutifully gutting and carving while O & Z started playing kitty cat or some other type of animal. 

So, yes, we gave in and carved the pumpkin early... a little too early.  With all of the warm weather, our little dear did not fare well.  He is currently on our front porch, with black mold eating his insides, while hairy mold grows on his head (good look for him) and almost, but not quite, falling in on himself.  I think we will scare the kids with this monster!  By the way, don't slip on pumpkin guts and mold when you leave.  Happy Halloween! 

We also have the tradition in our neighborhood of "Ghosting".  We started this a few years ago, where we have a bag of goodies, knock on a friend's door, hide and scare them (but leave the bag of goodies).  Previous years, Olivia and Zach didn't really get what we were doing, but this year....they were asking ME "when are we going Ghosting?".  I love this age; they are so much fun!

Fall Lake Weekend

Sometimes, when I am in Atlanta, I forget about living at the lake.  When I get back to Lake Martin, I realize the reason we worked so hard to get this place.  It's indescribable....well, maybe not.  Every season is beautiful here.  As we drove out this past October weekend, the skies were opening up to a blissful blue.  The rain had parted and we drove out of throngs of cars in Atlanta to wide open roads in Alabama.  We pulled into the lake house and were greeted with sparkling water and a plethora of vegetables that had been growing since we left Labor Day weekend.  A bush full of tomatoes, ripe and green (just the way I like them), hot banana peppers, and huge, glistening, plump, green peppers.  'I knew you would be waiting for me my beauties....'

Every time I walk into this house, days or months between each span, I feel completely at home...we all do.  It's like we take a deep, relaxing breath and smile.  This place is theraputic.

Our aim was to take the boat out before the water goes down this winter.  Saturday temperatures were cold and skies did not clear, so Dave built a bonfire and we started Smores at noon.  There is nothing wrong with that - right?  It was an all day bonfire and there was a lot of mud to play in.  Getting muddy is where the fun lies.  Getting clean is where mommy comes in.  I was rewarded with more Smores for dinner :-)

Sunday was almost 70 degrees, so we headed out on the boat for a trip to a favorite island.  The water was bearable, so we walked around the entire island and spent an hour or two basking in the sun.  We were all lost in our own thoughts.  Pure bliss.....

Fall Weekend

This past weekend was a fun-filled, fall weekend like no other.  Karen and Mike invited us to their neighborhood Fall Festival Friday night.  It was extremely cold, but I guess it made the hayride 'authentic'.  Gavin, Zach and Olivia went through the haunted house at least seven times.  Olivia did so because you could pick a prize at the end of the tour.  Guess what she chose each time.... squishies.  Zach and Gavin were true buds all night.  Jumpy house, slide, face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, hot apple cider and the hayride all made for an amazing Fall Festival evening.  The only worry, the boys hid from us under the playground set for a while.  Luckily, Mike has a good eye and spotted the glow bracelets.  They were 'just hiding in their fort.' 

Check out the face painting for these cool dudes: 

Saturday turned out to be brutally cold as well.  We had a family reunion at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs.  Typically these reunions are held on a warm, fall day, but since no one can predict that far in advance, we ended up freezing.  Of course, good food and great family make the event.  As the wind was blowing through the pavilion, I couldn't stop shaking.  But somehow I still managed to eat my entire plate...shaking and all :-)  We had a makeshift campfire in the BBQ grill.  I think we were all fighting to have a spot around the fire.  With 60 some odd people, you can see your chances.  Take a look at my dad's scarf - it's a towel from one of the casseroles.  Good old LG!

Let's just say that Dave is still extremely excited about Georgia Tech's win over Virginia Tech Saturday night.  We had to donn our ski gear for the game, but we were nice and toasty.  Dave coaxed me onto the field after the win.  As the field goal posts were being torn down and carried out of the stadium, Dave finally looked around at the student crowd and said "Tech has changed since I was here".  Yes, that officially makes us old!  And here I was thinking "eww, what if I get the H1N1 virus from being around all of these college students".  I get the award for being old AND neurotic....

The kids spent the night with Aunt Karen and Uncle Mike.  The cousins have been spending more time together now that they are older (and more controllable).  As my dad said about a year ago, "we'll NEVER watch all three of them at the same time again".  He went back on his word.... he he he.  Seriously, they are much easier to handle now that they have matured a bit.  Plus, they have fun together!

Sunshine and Sunday came around.  Everyone poked their heads out to see if the sunshine would stay and it did!  Ah, back to sunny Atlanta again.  We missed you :-)  I was in the mood for Six Feet Under (restuarant close to Oakland Cemetery), so we headed out for lunch.  This was the first visit to the Oakland Cemetery for Dave and the kids, so they ran and ran until at last, I heard from two little ones.  "Ah, we're tired.  Will you carry me?"  For a cemetery, this place is not all that bad.  In fact, this is my third trip in five months...

Olivia - Star of the Week

Olivia's Kindergarten class has a Star of the Week program.  Here is an excerpt of Olivia's weekly class letter from her teacher:
Sharks and Starfish Weekly Letter

Parents,
Sharks and Starfish had very busy week. On Monday, students listened to The Story of Christopher Columbus. Students made newspaper sailor hats to commemorate the voyage of Columbus! Be sure to check book bags for your child’s frog beanbags. Students were very meticulous when crafting their frogs. Most students gave their frogs special pet names!

Congratulations to Olivia Pryor, our Star of the Week! Olivia delivered a wonderful presentation with a poster of her hobbies, favorite food, vacations, and family photos. On Wednesday, Olivia brought her butterfly nest, a habitat where she has reared caterpillars to butterflies! Today, she shared her favorite book Pickles to Pittsburgh, a delightful story, sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Kudos to Olivia for a job well done!

Some of Olivia's favorite hobbies: art, fishing at the lake, swimming, favorite vacations include going to SeaWorld and Colorado (we had some great photos for these), her favorite food is pizza.  We had fun making her poster and talking about all of her favorite things.  Way to go, Olivia.

Funny Quotes from Zach

This one gave me a good laugh, so I thought I would share it.  Here is the excerpt from Zach's weekly school newsletter:

Lions Class News

Week of October 12, 2009

Monday: Today the Lions learned all about Columbus Day! During Circle Time we sang a song about Christopher Columbus (to the tune of “Mary Had a little Lamb”) and we learned that Columbus sailed three ships from Spain, across the Atlantic Ocean, and discovered the New World, which we call America. We got to place a special Columbus Day sticker on our calendar, too!

We also started work on our “leaf books” today. Throughout the week we did different activities involving fall leaves. Today, each student received a leaf to use all week long, and wrote down what color the leaf was, and then we measured our leaves using our math cubes.

This week in phonics we continued to work on the sounds “M” and “S” and we added the short “a” sound and the long “e” sound. We followed these lessons with pages in our workbooks.

In Art, we used watercolors to paint a map of Columbus’ journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

During snack time today, Zach suddenly said” less talking, more eating!” which gave his teachers a good laugh. :-)

I read this last night and for the life of me, I could not stop laughing. 

Sister's and the Beach

How did we get so lucky?  I love my twin sisters (brother too), but we really, really lucked out that Kim lives in South Florida.  Karen and I took a quick trip to Delray Beach, FL this past weekend thanks to those great Spirit Airline flights and spent two blissful days with our dear sister, Kim.  We were on the beach by 10 am Friday morning and basically spent the entire day talking and watching the waves roll in.  We soaked up our fair share of Vitamin D at the beach and sushi at dinner.  I wish I had a photo of the sushi boat we all devoured; it was amazing.  Football, a few t.v. shows, swimming and chatting all equal a relaxing weekend with my sisters.

With the rainy weather in Atlanta, I wish we did not leave the sunny state.  It's strange to be on a beach with 90 degree weather in October.  I went from sand to pumpkins upon my return home. 

As I always fail to properly articulate (no, I am NOT a twin), simply put:  I have sisters.  They are twins.  Now, when is our next trip?

Nighttime Stories & Halloween Decorations

You just never know what kids will start doing next.  Zach has now taken over the nighttime story job from Olivia.  Don't get me wrong, she still tells a fair amount of imaginative tales on her own, but Zach is basking in his newfound storytelling.  Whereas Olivia's stories are focused on animals, Zach's, as you may have guessed, deal with race cars. 
Tonight, I had to give him a 5 minute time limit.  I learned this the hard way with Olivia.  Those stories can go on...and on... and on.  "And then........"  Aunt Karen can attest to this one.  He was so animated with the cars.  Yes, he brought 12 cars to the bed and lined them up for the race.  I got to hear play by play.  Olivia passed out.  As I curtailed his story, he said "And the next night (tomorrow) on Chapter 2, the Ferrari and the red Porsche get lost!"  Duhn, duhn, duhn.  A cliffhanger - wow.
Yes, I still read to them and they read to me, but these wild and crazy stories have to fit into the nighttime ritual as well. 

Halloween decorating filled up our afternoon.  Olivia suggested we decorate today and she was so excited and proud of herself for "her great idea, right mom?!"  Let's just say, I will have a lot of little ghouls, goblins and misc. Halloween toys to trip over this month.  Oh well, it's festive!  The stuffed horse in the photo was a belated birthday present she recieved today.  I think the horse was trying to manage all the Halloween toys.  he he he.  I always have a Tinkertoy racetrack to step over if Zach is around.  He had his buddy, Garrett, over today and they speak the same language - racing!

Apples, Pumpkins and Autumn, oh my!

Thursday's school trip to Berry Patch Farms in Woodstock was my seventh trip to this specific pumpkin patch.  Previous years, I have attended two days in a row to take each kid on their specific class day.  This year, I lucked out and we all attended at the same time.  Hayrides, picking a small pumpkin or gourd and the delicious apple cider are a rite of passage for the VCLC group.  Zach was very careful in his selection of a gourd.  This thing looks like a swan and it is really cool.  I, unfortunately, missed Olivia's hayride since I was still on Zach's trip, so she went along with her classmates without me.  I guess that's what you do in Kindergarten.  It was an absolutely beautiful day outside and the pictures show it.  I came home with straw in my shoes, so I guess that means I had a good time!

Another rite of passage was Olivia's 6-year checkup.  She measured in at 41 lbs. and 45 inches tall.  She remains steady each year being in the 25% in weight and 50% in height. Flu mist was given to both Olivia and Zach, a finger prick to check glucose and cholestrol for Olivia and we were on our way.  Well, Olivia had a few words to say about the finger prick, but I had a few words to say about the bacon and cholestrol, so we are even....

On Saturday we headed up to Elijay to pick apples.  It was another glorious day for the weather and for picking apples.  Yum, yum, yum.  We barely hit the fields before every one of us had an apple in our mouths.  Of course, we needed the nourishment to pick a bag full of apples, watch the apple cannon shooting (fun stuff) and hang out for 45 minutes while our kids played with the farm animals.  I swear this little pig looked just like Wilbur!  The baby goats were nursing on their moms, the baby bunnies we so much fun to play with and the huge turkeys stayed far, far away from all the kids.  It was a delightful day and the local BBQ was delicious.  Apples and BBQ, it doesn't get much better than that!  If you haven't tried a Staymen Winesap apple, it is my current favorite.  Olivia has consumed six apples since yesterday along with the fresh apple bread we purchase.  I don't think the apple bread will last much longer with Zach around. 

The apple bread was Papa Larry's fill-in for birthday cake (and I think that was ok with him).  My dad, as well as Dave's mom, Joan, both celebrate a birthday on Monday, October 5th.  So a Happy Birthday to them!  Papa received a very LOUD rendention of the song from Gavin, Zach and Olivia (twice)!  Lucky grandpa...